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Chowder
Chowder is DJ Walters’ comical, dim-witted, and pudgy best friend, and the deuteragonist of Monster House. Personality Chowder is known to be comical, goofy, and somewhat immature, which can annoy DJ and other people, such as Jenny. Chowder really loves candy and junk food, based on his chubby appearance. In addition, Chowder is shown to be well-mannered and civil when he introduces himself as Charles after first meeting Jenny, which indicates he knows how to act like a gentleman sometimes. Chowder is also shown to be resourceful, as he is able to operate machinery; this is demonstrated when he uses an excavator efficiently to battle Nebbercracker's house at the climax of the film. His only real flaw is that he is timid and gullible from time to time. Appearances Film As DJ's parents are going out of town and returning Halloween night, Chowder accidentally runs into the back of the car, wearing a Halloween mask. He shows DJ that he just bought a new basketball, and asks about his plans for Halloween. While throwing his ball, Chowder inadvertently hits himself in the face. His ball ends up on Horace Nebbercracker's lawn. Chowder asks DJ to retrieve it; he responds that once something lands on Nebbercracker's lawn, it's gone. Chowder begins to tear up and says that he paid $28 for the basketball, having to rake 10 yards and ask his mom for money several times. DJ reluctantly agrees to get the ball. Unfortunately, he is caught by Nebbercracker, who seemingly suffers a heart attack and dies while confronting DJ. A shocked Chowder and DJ watch as Nebbercracker is taken to the hospital by ambulance. Chowder then goes home as DJ's babysitter, Zee, arrives. Later that evening, DJ, believing strange things are going on at Nebbercracker's house since his supposed death, calls Chowder as he is playing a video game at his house, and asks him to meet up at the Danger Zone, which is a construction site built on an empty lake. DJ explains that he feels Nebbercracker is back from the dead, and the two boys go to investigate the house. Chowder goes up to the house, against DJ's protests, and rings the doorbell, causing the house to awaken, revealing it to be a monster. The house almost catches Chowder, but he narrowly escapes, and he and DJ flee back to DJ's house where they spend the night watching the house. The next morning, Halloween, Chowder glimpses a red-haired girl, Jenny Bennett, selling chocolates. Infatuated, he murmurs "Hello.", getting DJ's attention, leading him to take a look at her, becoming infatuated as well. They continue watching her, until they notice she's heading straight towards Nebbercracker's house. They both run out to warn her. Unfortunately, the house awakens and almost eats her, but DJ and Chowder intervene, and Zee steps outside to tell Chowder that his dad is on the phone looking for him, causing the house to go dormant again. While Chowder is on the phone with his dad, DJ talks with Jenny and they go up to DJ's bedroom, where DJ introduces Jenny to Chowder. Jenny reveals that she's a two-term class president at Westbrook Prep, a school for girls, leading Chowder to admit that’s why he didn’t get in, and adds that there's a great taco stand near there. Jenny tells him she hates Mexican food, to which DJ and Chowder both say that they do too. Proceeding to call her mom about what happened, Jenny examines the bottles on DJ's desk, asking if what's inside them is pee, stating that if it is, that's really gross; Chowder is shocked and disgusted as well, accusing DJ of peeing in bottles, though DJ tries to talk his way out of it by saying it's Chowder's pee. DJ and Chowder argue about their hatred of Mexican food and about Jenny while she calls her mom, but is not believed. Chowder states that authority can be unreliable then makes a farting sound with his armpit, which Jenny doesn’t find amusing. Immediately afterwards, the three watch the house eat a dog and realize the house only moves when its unsuspecting prey gets close and decide to call the police. Jenny and DJ express their fears about numerous kids going up to Nebbercracker's house that evening. Chowder tries to assuage their fears by saying "Only a total moron would walk up to Old Man Nebbercracker's house." The house then produces Chowder's basketball to try and trick him into coming closer; he almost falls for it, but DJ and Jenny, knowing it's a trap, stop him. One of the boards that make up the stairs dribbles the ball, putting a jack-o-lantern depiction on it, invoking concern in Chowder as well. When the cops don't believe them either, Chowder, DJ, and Jenny go to Reginald "Skull" Skullinski for answers. He explains that he has heard about human souls and spirits possessing and merging with man-made structures, turning them into monsters, and that to kill the possessed house, they have to strike at the heart. Realizing the furnace is the heart, they concoct a plan to make a dummy filled with cold medicine to feed to the house; Chowder shows reluctance, because he doesn't want to steal drugs from his father, but when Jenny says that it's worth a shot, he agrees to do it. However, their plan is foiled by police officers Landers and Lister, who arrest them when they find that they stole the cold medicine. The house tricks the officers into coming closer and eats them both, along with their car. Trapped inside the house, the trio discover some of Nebbercracker's early life, from his army days, and his marriage to Constance, whose cement-coated remains they find in the basement, along with the toys Nebbercracker confiscated. The house attacks them once it finds out they are inside; Chowder is lured into a trap by his ball and ensnared by several bed springs, while Jenny is sucked up into a pipe, though DJ is able to evade capture. The three escape by attacking the house's uvula, which Chowder earlier mistook for the heart, causing it to puke them out. Chowder argues with DJ about their failed plan, and how they nearly died in the house, until Jenny tells them to stop fighting, saying that they're behaving like babies; DJ promptly states that they were thinking like babies. At that moment, Nebbercracker returns home by ambulance, revealing that he's still alive, and that it was actually Constance's spirit that was controlling the house. Chowder and Jenny urge DJ not to go near the house again, but DJ tells Nebbercracker that he knows about his past anyway, leading him to explain everything. While being chased by the enraged house after DJ persuades Nebbercracker to let Constance go for the better, Chowder attempts to slow the house down, before being rushed to safety by Nebbercracker. When Constance attempts to attack Nebbercracker, Chowder pilots an excavator and attacks the house to save him. The battle between Chowder and Constance causes DJ and Jenny to fall into the lake, and seconds later, the two of them as well, causing the house to fall apart. For a few seconds, it seems as though he won. But, his victory is short-lived; while Chowder is jumping for joy, Constance rebuilds the house in a more terrifying form, much to his dismay. As DJ and Jenny climb to the top of a crane so they can throw a stick of dynamite down the chimney, Chowder resumes fighting the house. Unfortunately, the house gains the upper hand and eats the excavator before directing its attention towards Chowder again. The house ultimately grabs Chowder by the cape, forcing him to untie it. Once DJ throws the lit dynamite down the chimney, Chowder desperately runs as fast as he can to get away from the house, though DJ swings down and pulls him to safety, and the two boys take cover in a ditch to avoid the explosion, while Jenny remains atop the crane. After the battle, Nebbercracker expresses his gratitude to DJ, Chowder, and Jenny for freeing him and Constance from being trapped for 45 years, and they help him return all the toys back to the neighborhood kids. Jenny says goodbye to her new friends, with the hope of seeing them again soon, and goes home with her mom. Bidding farewell to Nebbercracker, DJ and Chowder meet up with DJ's parents, who have just returned home. While playing basketball, Chowder agrees with DJ that they are beyond the trick-or-treating age. Although, considering they've been working all night, they decide to do it, just for old times sake. Video Games Chowder is one of the three main playable characters in the video game, along with DJ and Jenny. Nintendo GameCube/PlayStation 2 At the start of the game, Jenny and Chowder are separated from DJ, with Jenny getting stuck in the attic, while Chowder finds himself in the greenhouse and after exiting the greenhouse and finding a spare light bulb for his water gun, he fights living chairs and wall lamps before arriving in the kitchen and after defeating numerous floor crawlers, he is attacked by a giant pipe; he narrowly escapes from the pipe by jumping down a dumbwaiter shaft. A little later, Chowder wakes up in the depths of the house and fights a living TV and enters a flooded room. He climbs up to a platform where he moves a crate to a nearby pipe with a valve and turns it to drain out the water. Chowder then fights off many monsters consisting of gas tanks, floor crawlers, and lamps, as well as a large killer pipe. Then traverses a few more corridors and rooms, ultimately encountering two huge pipes. While DJ meets up with Jenny in the basement, Chowder makes his way through a maze of toys in another part of the basement. At the end of the maze, Chowder finds his lost basketball before having to deal with the two massive pipes again. Chowder enters a circus-themed area where he plays games to find the missing eye and nose of the clown on a merry-go-around to move forward and reunites with DJ and Jenny. After discovering the remains of Constance and a failed attempt to destroy the furnace, the house's heart, DJ, Chowder, and Jenny are separated again by three giant pipes. They end up having to fight their way through the house, dealing with more enemies as they traverse the corridors. After escaping from the house, due to Jenny pulling on the uvula, they are chased by the house to a construction site, where Chowder fights the house, as the final boss, with a backhoe. After defeating the house by blowing it up with a dynamite, Chowder and Jenny congratulate DJ from the ground as he hangs on a crane. Nintendo DS/GameBoy Advance Unlike in the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions of the game, DJ, Chowder, and Jenny don't get separated and are together throughout the game in the DS and GameBoy Advance versions, with the player being able to switch between them as they explore each room and fight off possessed furniture, including the house's uvula and furnace; in the GameBoy Advance version, Jenny is initially too scared to tackle the furnace, but overcomes her fear with encouragement from DJ and Chowder. After destroying the furnace in the GameBoy Advance version of the game, DJ, Chowder, and Jenny must escape from the house before it explodes, while in the DS version, they end up having to deal with the house directly, with the lawn serving as a battle arena. Relationships DJ Walters DJ and Chowder have been best friends all their lives. However, DJ can get a little annoyed by Chowder's immature and childish nature. Because of his naivety, Chowder disagrees with DJ’s concerns about Nebbercracker’s house, right up until he is attacked and almost eaten by the house. They sometimes argue, but that doesn't hurt their friendship. Jenny Bennett Chowder falls in love with Jenny when he first glimpses her through the telescope. However, she isn't too fond of him or DJ in the beginning. Despite Jenny preferring DJ over him in the end, Chowder doesn't show any signs of jealousy and she remains good friends with him, as indicated when she hugs both him and DJ before leaving with her mom. As she leaves, Chowder says that Jenny grabbed his butt. Gallery Trivia * Chowder is one of four characters in the film whose last name is never revealed, the other three being Zee, Bones, and Eliza. * In early concept art of the film, Chowder is attacked by Constance’s ghost when he looks into a big mirror that she owned, but this scene was cut from the film to keep the rating PG. Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Monster House Category:Deuteragonists Category:Humans Category:Main Characters Category:Heroes Category:Monster House Characters Category:Kids Category:Pre-teens Category:Animated Characters Category:Americans Category:American Characters Category:Students Category:Video Game Characters